A Simple Incident
by ciele
Summary: Anakin has a sparring incident and a meeting with spoiled soup...Not in that order.


disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars!...of course.

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I threw up on my sparring partner yesterday. I really didn't mean to, it just happened.

I guess I should have noticed I felt strange after my master fed me that cold stew. The stuff had been sitting around for the past week, and apparently it wasn't sealed properly. I always make sure things are sealed correctly. It's one of my talents. A talent my master does not possess.

Making sure I was out of his hair for two hours, my master made me leave for the sparring session early. Now _that's_ uncalled for. I just threw my old blanket over my head, but he dragged me by the arm to the table where the awful stuff was waiting. For some reason my stomach felt like a bubble, but I left the apartment anyway. _Maybe this is just how a Hutt feels after a large meal, _I thought.

I wasn't sure who the boy was I threw up on, but he seemed to be my age. He was the same height as me, anyway. I also wanted to ask master Yoda if I could move up to tougher opponents and maybe skip a few groups to a more advanced level. So far, this lightsaber training had been much too easy. Naturally I was being good by wanting to challenge myself, right? But master Yoda wouldn't hear any of it. I still don't really think that's fair.

I could have been throwing up on an advanced student, and instead I'm stuck with some squeamish kid who's never seen any kind of bodily fluid before.

Do you know what it's like walking in that sparring room at dawn? The walls are so bright, brighter than the white sand dunes near the poles of Tatooine. _This is going to be great_, I thought, _we can just blind each other to death._

The fight was actually pretty interesting. It even got a little bit fun before the incident, but that definitely didn't last for long. The kid was making all these strange jumping moves—and they weren't the sign of a well-trained apprentice. He was just moving from side to side in all these weird little jerky motions! For some reason I was really slow. He seemed like a bug caught in a poison-trap. Everything got blurry, and I could barely even see when I tapped the Force on the shoulder to ask for help.

Then it happened. I felt so sick, but I was sweating to keep it down and my arms felt dead. I realized what had happened a few seconds afterward. My face was probably burning as much as my throat.

I truly hoped, very much prayed, that most of it had landed on the floor. But the tiny, very high-pitched noise from Mr. Jumpy-pants told me differently. His clothes were really soaked and drippy.

I didn't stick around long enough to register any worried looks my way. I ran as fast as my wiggly legs could carry me. I just wanted to curl up in my bed and fall back asleep—hiding anywhere in the dark where I could be safe. After stumbling out into the hallway, some Jedi masters on their way to who-knows-where with their padawans stopped and stared at me. I looked down at the floor and saw my reflection in the freshly cleaned surface. Then, running even faster down the hallway, I kept smacking into walls, shoving past random people and beeping droids. Coming to our hallway was a relief. There was no one in sight. My legs immediately slowed down and my eyelids drooped, but my throat was still burning. The back of my mouth started constricting. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve.

I wondered if my master ever threw up on _his_ sparring partner.

Walking up to the door was harder than it looked. What would happen when he found out I ran away from practicing? Surely he would tell me to contain myself and return to what I needed to do.

I pressed the lock and let myself in. _I guess I'm ready_.

Surprisingly, he wasn't there. But that didn't make me feel any better. The room was very empty and very pale blue. All the lights were off. Even though twelve year olds shouldn't usually cry, I started to, just a little. I closed the door and went into the kitchen. There was no keeping this sick on my clothes if I had anything to say about it.

The sponge on the sink counter was the best for getting out stains. I tried not to think about the kid having to clean my sick out of his clothes as well. My throat stung so much, I started to cough and was almost sick again.

Clearly it was time for some water, but the problem was that I couldn't see very well, so I dropped the soapy sponge _and_ the cup I was trying to carry out of the cabinet. Glass all over the floor is not fun.

Then I completely lost it. Now I was trapped, surrounded by little shards of what I was going to fill with water. My throat was really closing now and I didn't know how to stop crying. Crouching on the floor, I buried my head in my knees…

_Wait!_ I almost fell over standing up so quickly. _The Force! _I tapped it on the shoulder again. _Please help me do this_, I thought.

How could I have been so stupid? Well, it turns out, I was even worse than that. I fell over the moment I took a step forward. I should have known better than to walk. Thankfully, the shards weren't digging into my clothes, but my left hand landed right on those sharp little things.

"Ow!" I yelped, mentally kicking myself. _I hate my life_.

I was stuck on the floor for what seemed like forever…and ever. _Master, when are you coming home?_ Trying to shift so the glass wouldn't dig into my hand so much, I tried to think about my nice warm bed and water that I really did drink, the cup didn't crash on the floor….Also, I learned that headaches are not fun. Suddenly, I wanted to be sick again. The dimness of the room made me fade away to a different place. Was I still at the Jedi temple? Nothing made sense.

Just when I thought I would be lying in a bed of sharp glass for the rest of my life, my master walked in. He didn't see me at first because I was on the floor, but I bet he could sense me because he said my name. "Anakin? Are you here?" His voice sounded far away. I think he was surprised when he found me.

I let him carry me to a mat so he could take the glass out of my hand and arm. I felt just like a youngling when he carried me, but maybe I still was. Am. It was almost like floating to my funeral. No scolding or questioning came from the far away voice…yet.

My head was so heavy, I had to fall asleep.

I woke up with a tight feeling around my arm and I realized that it was bandaged. Where was I? The air was dark. My room! Where I wanted to be all along. The blankets were warm and the pillow was so soft there was no way I could look from side to side. A sliver of light appeared in the doorway as my master stepped in noiselessly.

"Anakin? You're going to stay here for the next couple of days, so don't try getting up. Master Yoda told me you were quite sick. Not that it wasn't obvious." Oh, that was the last thing I wanted to hear. I opened my mouth to speak, but a bunch of gurgling came out as I started furiously coughing again. I was nauseated but continued to swallow the feeling down for the millionth time. Lovely.

I was handed some water in a glass that hopefully would never break, or at least, I would never drop. Water! Appreciating water was always a given on Tatooine. For some reason I never appreciated it more than this moment.

I gained enough voice to speak hoarsely and turned to my master after collapsing back on the covers. "Obi-Wan?"

"Yes?"

"Did you ever throw up on your sparring partner?"

He chuckled. "No, but I did have my fair share of accidents."

"Like what?"

"Well, other than fighting a bit too hard on one particular match…there was one other I won't forget. I accidentally levitated my partner, but I hadn't known I'd done it. I was searching for him, not realizing he was in the air. Upside-down, for that matter. Apparently he was so surprised, he didn't say anything. The whole group was looking up at something I didn't understand. Then just to be amusing, master Yoda decided to levitate _me_. Unfortunately, I dropped my partner. He was alright, thankfully."

I wanted to say how silly that was, how much it made me happy, how maybe it wasn't true. Instead I offered a weak "that's weird," and smiled.

"I know," he smiled as well and placed a hand on my forehead. His hand was cold, relieving the nausea just a little. "Go to sleep," he ordered gently, "you'll be fine."

He moved towards the door. "Master?"

"Yes?"

"Next time I'll ask Master Windu if he had a sparring accident."

"Alright. That should be fun."

"Master?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, Anakin. Oh, and Anakin?"

"Yes?"

"Let me know the next time something isn't sealed properly."

"No problem."

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I wrote this a bit late, and too quickly...I hope you enjoyed it! ...are there droids in the Jedi temple?


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